Poor Millionaire : Teen-Age Lottery Winner Strapped for Cash, Living $80,000 Paycheck to Paycheck

Teen-age lottery winner Brett Peterson bought three cars, hosted lavish parties, gave his friends a couple of grand and is now so strapped for cash that he is looking for a job as a waiter to tide him over for the next nine months.

That’s when the second of 20 annual $80,000 checks will be mailed to the Chatsworth fraternity pledge who won $2 million three months ago.

“I guess I’ll have to look for a job this summer. I’ll probably be a banquet waiter,” he said Tuesday. “But I’m planning on majoring in business. I want to be an investment broker and invest my money and other people’s money.”

Peterson, 19, holds the California title as the youngest major lottery winner with his lucky turn of the Big Spin wheel last December, state lottery officials said. Several 18-year-olds have won prizes, but none close to Peterson’s after-tax bounty of about $72,000 a year.

The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity pledge from Cal State Northridge said he paid $22,000 cash for a sporty red Volkswagen Corrado, partied away about $7,500, paid back a $7,000 loan, bought a $3,000 computer, gave $3,000 to friends and relatives, bought a $1,000 Movado watch because a “Rolex is too gaudy,” and purchased a $700 camera.

Oh, and he plopped another $22,500 down to finance two Nissan Maximas for mom and dad--black for dad, white for mom.

“I wanted to share the wealth,” he said, a bit groggy at 11 a.m. after a late-night basketball game and party.

But now his new pants pockets are nearly empty.

The teen-ager has about $13,000 in the bank. He owes the Internal Revenue Service another $7,000 in taxes and must make $600-a-month car payments.

“Yeah, it sounds kind of a ridiculous that I have done this to myself,” he said. “I guess I just acted impulsively and spent it impulsively.”

Now, like scores of other indebted Americans, he too is forced to live from paycheck to paycheck.

Adding to his financial woes, young Peterson is having trouble getting credit. Even Shell Oil turned down his gas card application because he does not have a credit history. Only recently has he received a Visa card--with a $500 limit.

His father, Donald Peterson, said he advised his son to “buy some property or invest in a CD or something. I gave him the name of an accountant friend of mine.”

Money, Brett Peterson has learned, doesn’t solve every problem.

“It’s kind of created a few,” he explained, saying that at times it has been awkward going out with his college buddies who know of his $80,000-a-year lottery income.

So next year, no more throwing parties, no more fancy gifts.

His father, too, has high hopes about his son’s future financial security.

“Well I figure he has 19 more shots at it,” the elder Peterson chuckled. “Maybe he’s learned something this year.”

In the meantime, Brett Peterson said, “I’m going to be a happy waiter.”